If you go to iTunes, and you can’t find my podcast, do this. In iTunes on your computer, click on Advanced menu. Select “Subscribe to Podcast”, and paste this into the dialog box: sewingmama.libsyn.com/rss

I have a couple of suggestions for topics. One of the things I had down was sewing for boys but I was thinking about my 8-year-old son. What can I practically sew for him that he would actually wear? I’m thinking in the 8 to 10 year range.

Another thing is sewing motivation. I have a hard time just getting up to do it. I have a jacket cut out now that I need to mark and sew but I have a difficult time.

Any advice sisters and brothers? Send me an email or give me a call! Thanks for listening and I’ll be back on the air in a week or two.

I want to thank everyone for their wonderful support! If you’d like to participate you can:

Would you like to see more shows? I’d love to be able to afford the webspace. You can help support this show by taking a look at my sewing advocacy items. I also have a PayPal donation link here. Or you can shop my recommended books. Thank you so much!

I also have a list of online shops you can click through and I’ll get a small percentage:

This is the first dress I made custom for my girls. I’m offering the pattern for free if you’d like to give it a spin! It’s a fairly simple A Line dress, with or without sleeves. You can use ribbing on the collar and armholes or you can serge, and fold under.

You can use these patterns as you wish, I think they are pretty self explanatory. If not, Here’s the sew along in .pdf form, and in html.

Use a knit fabric, and these fit about 3T-5.

I’m getting ready to start teaching again next week. I’m only scheduled for a 20% gig which means I teach one day a week. However there is a lot of start up time and things to get done so I can be cleared for duty by next week. I’m trying to get a new podcast out as well, hopefully this week.

I’m doing a lot of denial sewing, I’ve made like 8 of these dresses, they are super duper easy. I used some ready to wear concepts that I loved to draft these myself. You can make as many as you want, and they are wonderful to embellish! Have fun and I’ll ‘see’ you soon.

Hey, if you’re reading this why don’t you give me a call on my voice mail only line at 1-775-593-5136 and let me know what you’re working on and what you’d like to hear more of on the podcast!

Here are my samples of what I’ve done with this pattern. Click for larger views:

As jammies — I found if I cut it and don’t do much topstitching, they turned out as really easy nigthgowns! Using fabric with ‘tossed’ pictures also are good for night time wear.

As tops — I just cut them where I wanted them to fall. One turned into sort of a swing top, the other a more a line top. By cutting the front bodice below the chest, it looks more RTW (ready to wear) in my opinion. This first one I just serged the openings and straight stitched them down. I you had a coverstitcher these would be even faster LOL:

If you go to iTunes, and you can’t find my podcast, do this. In iTunes on your computer, click on Advanced menu. Select “Subscribe to Podcast”, and paste this into the dialog box: sewingmama.libsyn.com/rss

These are just about the most fun thing I’ve ever sewn! So easy and they turn out so pretty!

I got my wovens together, mostly scraps. I ironed them on to heat and bond. I sewed them in patchwork style, cut them up, resewed them until they looked like a crazy quilt.

I then ironed it on to some thick interfacing. I popped on my darning/embroidery foot, lowered the feed dogs and using a variegated embroidery thread I quilted the heck out of the sheet of fabric in a random pattern.

Then I cut them out to fit the card, so that there was a bit of a margin all the way around. I used a straight stitch around the card to secure it to the paper. I didn’t have any spray on glue, or I would have used that too.

I either sewed on the tag or a button to the front by hand. Then I cut a piece of cardstock to fit the inside of the card, again with a small margin, to hide the stitches.

I can’t decide if I should put some in the summer swap or the card swap or sell them LOL. I scanned them to the color is a little stark, they are softer IRL

dying pillowcases, fabric and dresses for the girls I used Dharma dyes, salt, hot water and dark green, rasberry and ice blue to make some lwi dyed clothing and pillowcases.

Other finds:
Home dec sewing – bathroom valances, pillowcases, etc.
I like using shower curtains (not plastic) for drapes and grocery bags. tough and generally pretty water resistant.

I visited JapanTown, and picked up some (more) fabulous Japanese craft books. Bags, home decoration, patchworks, and some girl’s wardrobe 110-150. I’ll have the ISBN numbers on my podcast notes

I didn’t do any fabric shopping, but my husband’s company gave him a fun little digital camera. It’s truly just point and shoot! I’ll have to do a few little projects for an upcoming podcast.

block printing —
I found some linoleum squares for a dollar and a wood block for a few more, and some cutting tools at the Japanese shop in SF as well. I have been practicing printing/stenciling with styrofoam from meat trays, like I did back in my childhood.

For dying: Look at H and M, if you have one close. I don’t think you can order online but I could be wrong. They have really cute tops for around 4.00 each for kids. Much better price than Dharma or anywhere else, IMO.

Purses and bags!
I made the purse I chatted about earlier, as well as one out of the fabric I bought from that eBay seller in China. I used one of the patterns from my Japanese Bag book I got in San Francisco.

A fabric folio designed to hold an 8 1/2″ x 11 3/4″ paper notepad. Built in pockets provide roomy storage for important papers, writing utensils and business cards. Wherever you go, take notes in style. Great for gifts too. Pattern includes instructions and full sized pattern sheet. Make everyday art today!

I want to thank everyone for their wonderful support! If you’d like to participate you can:
email me materialmama at gmail dot com
Got a phone? Leave me a voicemail question or comment 1-775-593-5136
Got a Mic? Record A Two-Minute Question or comment.

How can I help support this podcast?

Would you like to see more shows? I’d love to be able to afford the webspace. You can help support this show by taking a look at my sewing advocacy items. I also have a PayPal donation link here. Or you can shop my recommended books. Thank you so much!

I also have a list of online shops you can click through and I’ll get a small percentage:

If you go to iTunes, and you can’t find my podcast, do this. In iTunes on your computer, click on Advanced menu. Select “Subscribe to Podcast”, and paste this into the dialog box: sewingmama.libsyn.com/rss

Thank you to Andrea from Wanted Web Design for coming up with my new banner on my site! I love her work, check it out if you’re interested in any graphic work!

Etsy contest – thanks Katie for pointing it out to us! Etsy and Instructables have come together for this contest. You sew something and then create a tutorial for it. They have 3 categories:

• The Sew Helpful Award — goes to the most useful thing that helps others in need;
• The Sew Hybrid Award — goes to the best combination of sewing and technology; and
• The Sew Educational Award — goes to the best Instructable tutorial.

What has sewing taught you? I wrote an essay on what it’s done for me.

New book purchases. I’m interested to see which company is faster. Amazon Japan or YesAsia. This is what I ordered:

From YesAsia. Free shipping, these books were 11.99 and 20.99 respectively. Because I bought from them before I got a 15.00 credit so this was a very good deal:

From Amazon Japan. 11.26 each. I had a credit from them since I shopped there before, .90 so my total with shipping was 48.84. Ordered May 21, arrived May 24th via DHL:

I also found an eBay seller with good feedback that sells cuts of Japanese and other imported fabrics that are just tdf! I’ll post a picture when they arrive :)

Jayme, jayme jayme! We love your bodice pattern! Check this page out for samples of what you can do with this fun pattern.

…..…..

I made some Jayme style tank dresses, but I used the most recent Ottobre (3/07) check out #9 , you can use the front piece as a Jayme bodice 74-110 cm. It worked perfectly! I love this fabric, I got it at Sewzannes. I used the FOE (Fold Over Elastic) you usually use on diapers, it was thicker and more sturdy. I attached it with an elastic zig zag stitch.

I had to put tee shirt on under as it was cool in the morning and I still wanted them to wear these for Mother’s Day LOL

I found this super awesome book at the thrift store. You may have seen it in the pile of ‘treasures’ last week. Well I finally cracked it open and honestly, I’m amazed. This book is wonderful! I read a fairy tale, The Little Laundress. I have been trying to get in contact with the authors to beg them to put it back into publication, or perhaps I can do it for them. Who knows. Now, you can scoop up this book for less than five bucks, I say do it now if you have any interest!

I like to use receiving blankets that are doubled to make matchy outfits for the girls. I can often find them on deep discount or at thrift shops for a song.

Have you used the free Ottobre tank pattern? I’d LOVE to share your pictures and results with my listeners. Please send me a link or the pictures at: materialmama at gmail dot com and I’ll share it like I did with the Jayme bodice pattern. If you don’t have it, here it is. It’s a .pdf file so it may take a moment to open.

This just in! Check out this great article about women sewing at home. Way to go Marcy and Hayden!

You can do so many things with a pattern. This time I’m highlighting the ‘Jayme Bodice Pattern’ that was created by Jayme DeHart, of Dehart Designs. She shared this with the Sewing Mama board and I’m uber thankful.

If you have finished Jayme bodice items, you can post a link here in the show notes. Thank you so much!

This is a free pattern she offers the sewing world, you can download it here:

From Cheryl These are wovens! she puts elastic inside the straps at top, for an easy fit, that doesn’t have the straps falling down on her “skinny minnie”. She also just did this one for St Pattys day, with a tie shoulder strap.

I have to apologize for the sound quality. I got all the bits recorded then discovered it was a little jumpy. Also, this was recorded before we went to Hawaii, so it’s not totally up to date. But I figured you’d want it one way or the other LOL

Colorfool has some great sewn food items, she used for a swap. There are some links on craftster and a really neat how to on making cakes! If you look at the Japanese crafting books, you’ll find many with felt, knit, crocheted and sewn foods. Wool felt feels best to me, but you can get wool/rayon blend felts at JoAnn’s.

Book Finds– I’ll talk about this on my next podcast but wanted to share:

You can find a few of the most popular Japanese crafting books translated into English! These titles are available from Amazon (US)

A few really neat ‘bucket’ items you could use for sewing organization:

Yelp is a neat site, reviews written by real people. I have a page for places I visit, join in and add sewing shops of your own! I like the fact that I can add in my own experiences, and see those of others. This is a great resource for when you are in an unfamiliar city and you need to find a fabric store.

Have you thought about joining the ASG? (American Sewing Guild) Well, I interviewed some women at the booth up in Pullyap and wanted to share some great stuff with you!

Reviews.

I sewed up some mama clothes! I tried out Vogue 8151 New Look 6470 and Simplicity 6470

Dresses for the little girls:

McCall’s bloomer’s pattern 4505

Shirred peasant dress with ruffle — I make my girls is McCall’s 3417, I modified it to be three pieces rather than four — I changed the front of it to one wider piece.
I gather the front and back for dresses, just the front for jammies.

You can use a knit or woven. Fabric from Nicole at Fabric Hound. It sewed up really nice!

What’s a sewing podcast?

You do not need an iPod, just a computer with speakers.
My podcast is just like a radio show. But instead of listening to it on the radio, you listen on your computer. For free. I do it because it's fun and I like to share stories and information about sewing.